Safety-envelop.



f No. 811,092.

PATENTED JAN. 30, 1906. H. P. ROBERTS. SAFETY ENVELOP. APPLIOATION FILED 1116.29, 1904.

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UNITED srrnrnslnrnnr y OFFICE.

HENRY PITT ROBERTS, .OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSTIS, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES F. HOWE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SAFETY-ENVELQP- no. si 1,092.

Patented Jan. 30, 1906.

Application filed August 29, 1904. Serial No. 222,512.

To fall when?, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY PITT ROBERTS, a citizen of the United States,residing in Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented ce tain new and useful Improvementsin Safetldnvelops, of which the following, taken in c nnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to envelopswhich are so constructed that'after sealing an at-.

tempt bdy any one to open the envelop maybe detecte Many types of safety-envelops have been proposed; but the various devices'which have een suggested have heretofore failed to meet prevailing conditions. Any fairly careful person .in a reasonably short time can open envelops noW in use,vand the envelop can be resealed so that the attention of the average correspondent will not be attracted.

The object of this invention is to furnish an envelop that Will clearly show the ,effects of any disturbance of the seal and accomplish thls without increasing the cost of the article.

Believing that one general fault ofprevious efforts to make a safety-envelop has been that the unusual .construction has attracted Athe attention of the party handling the mail and a little study has suggested some easy way of avoiding or overcoming the supposed safety device, I have concealed my safety device so that the first notice thereof obtained will be` after having so damaged the envelo that `detection is certain. Then the clerl must either reseal the envelop Without disturbing its contents or, takin the contents, run great risk of discovery. t will soon become well known in the postal servfelthat dangerous envelops are in the mails, and this will deter mail-clerks from touching envelops of any type, and thus increase the safety of v mail correspondence.

The invention consists in cutting the mate rial of the envelop to form small tongues along all or a selected portion of the line of sealing, and the said tongues may be so located that the gummed fla of the envelop will cover and conceal the sai tongues from view.

The invention also consists in forming the tongues so as to present a large portion of their surface to the gummed flap and in connectin the tongues to the material of the envelop y comparatively narrow necks, so the Ithe above being necks may break when touched by a tool or, if strained, before the tongues can be worked free from the gummed flap.

The invention further consists in arranging the necks otthe tongues in alternation in the line of sealingand in various features of novelty and in the selection and arrangement of arts that Will be particularly described. The drawings show in Figure 1 a rear view of my safety-envelop closed for mailing; Fig. 2, a rear view of the envelop before sealing; Figs. 3 and 4, some shapes used for tongues, and Fig. 5 modifications of the invention.

In general appearance the envelop is of ordinary type an to the end c. The bottom piece d may be folded over the edges e of the ends c and c to may have an end, as a, fold-4 ed over and secured by the pasted lap-joint b form the lap-joint f, and this lap-joint may j be gummed so the bottom piece d may be attached to the ends a and c, as usual. The

sealing-flap 'g can also be folded over in any common way so it may cover the ends a and c, as well as usually the tip -h of the bottoni piece d. The ila g is gummed along the margin t for lling, as now practiced, all ie ordinary and well-known form of envelop. It is said to be common practice to open envelope at the line of sealmg by inserting some thm smooth tool, as the small end of a penholder or a blade or a stiftl needle, at the sealed line and by turning VandV advancing the instrument to pr up the sealed fla from the back of the enve op, this being ai ed, if convenient, by moisture, steaming, &c. The process is ordinarily uite rapid if the operator is skilful, and the eature to he noticed is that the tool is usually advanced in the same general direction. N ow to reuder such an envelop secure l form tongues j in the ends a and c to register with the middle ofthe gummed surface k of the flap g or the bottom d. The tongues are illust-rated more fully in Figs.` 3 and 4, being formed by making incisions in the paper or other material of the envelop or by cutting out sections to leave the tongues j entirely clear except at IOO the necks l, which unite the tongues with the los neck is purposely made narrow,` so it may break if an attempt is made to release the tongue from the gum of the fla The scroll form furnishes Within a. small) area a very long neck, which is a further advantage, and it is found also to be useful to form sharp angles and recesses in andl about the tongues to cause the tool to tear the envelo The tongues are not usually set facing alLt e same Way,` a desirable arrangement being shown cat Fig. 2, in which thoe ton es alternate in position along-the gummefglline. This. causes a tool advancing oin one general direction to passrst above and then below a neck, either of uwhich .may b twisted by the tool the Wrongvway andbreak. The tongues are frequently spaced much .nearer each other than appears from the drawings aand do not always extend the entire-length of the gummed joint, bein noften grouped about the tip m at the middle of the flap g, which covers the tip h of the bottom d. i 1

Sometimes the sealing-flap, togetherlvvith the ends a/-and c, have tongues cut to register one over the other, and the tonguesarearranged so the necks of the tongues of the flap are atA the sides opposite the ynecks of the tongues'o' the ends c and c, the tongues ad- 'hering or interlockingwith each other. Now if an att'empt is made to separate tongues so adhering theA neck at one or the other side of the tongues isglikely to be broken bythe tool inthe hands of the operator.

. In use the lsender should note that all the tongues in the ends a and c are in place, then moistcn the gummedlap g and seal as usual.

l Whensuchan envelop is received, upon tearing it open if soigne of the necks of the ton es are Abroken or the tongues "overlap t eir spaces, as may-be seen from the inside of the envelop, thirthe envelop has probably been opene -Y J'are concealed from view by the overlyin The principal feature ofadv'antage which my improvement possesses over other envelops of the same class is,'iirst, that the t0n ues ap, 'so that it is impossible for a person W ointends to surreptitiousl open the letter to know that any means as been provided to detect unauthorized opening or tampering with the envelop; secondly, the tongues be- 'ing provided With narrow necks it will be y practically impossible to open an of the iiaps of the envelop Without tearing t e tongue at the neck thereof, and, thirdly, i'an of the tongues are torn in this manner it Wi l be im# possible topaste the flap down againy in such manner as to avoid a betrayal of the Agfact that the envelop has been opened, since upon inspecting the interior 'of the envelop the broken line' Wherethe neck ofthe tongue has been severed `Will beapp'arent at a glance.

/4 Having described m invention, l claim i l vand desire to secure by tters Patent ofthe United States- A I An envelop comprising a body, end flaps, and a bottom flap, and a main sealing-hap, the end flaps bein provided with a series of tongues lymgwho ly within the edges of the liaps and. entirely covered by the bottom flap and main sealing flap When said flaps are sealed onto the end flaps,l the said tongues bel ing united to the envelop by narrow necks materially less in section than the section' oi the tongues, and the tongues being 'so posed'thatthe alternating tongues project in'f op osite directions. Y

, n testimony whereof I have hereunto sub;

scribed my name this 13th day of August,

A. D. 1904. A

` HENRY PITTVEROBERTS.V

Witnessesz` Y ,CHARLES F:HOWn,

JoHN G. RAY, Jr. 

